Literally, Issa says that the autumn foliage "returns the setting sun to the sky" (irihi wo sora e kaesu). Is he saying that the leaves on the mountain are so bright and red, the setting sun has returned to the sky?

Shinji Ogawa has also mulled over this haiku. He suggests that perhaps "the red leaves reflect the rays of the evening sun to the sky; that is why the sky glows so red."

Based on this theory, he translates: the mountain's red leaves return the sunbeam to the sky

In his more literal French version, Jean Cholley has the mountain maples make the setting sun "remonter" ("go up again"); En village de miséreux: Choix de poèmes de Kobayashi Issa (Paris: Gallimard, 1996) 35.